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Dodger
Dodger is the deuteragonist of Disney's Oliver & Company. He is one of Fagin's dogs, the leader of the dog-gang, and Oliver's best friend. He was voiced by Billy Joel in the movie and Jess Harnell in House of Mouse. Description Dodger is a slender Jack Russell Terrier with white fur, brown ears, both black nose and eyebrows, brown spots on his back, and both gray feet and upper muzzle who wears a red scarf. As leader of the dog-gang, he is street-smart, witty, confident, proud, selfless, good-hearted, calm, sly, cool, kind, clever, and crafty, which also makes him Oliver's best friend since he doesn't eat cats because of "too much fur." Appearances ''Oliver & Company In New York, Dodger, with only his paws showing at first, is walking with style on the sidewalk; minding his own business until he notices a female dog and her owner passing by. Slightly interested, Dodger jumps on top of a Taxi car, fully revealed, and begins flirting with the female dog, who in return, snobbishly rejects him and walks away with her owner. Unoffended, Dodger keeps his cool until he hears Louie the hot dog vendor shouting from a distance on the other side of the street and notices a cat named Oliver trying to get a sausage from him a second time since his first attempt failed. Thinking this could be "time for the Dodge to turn this into a total cat-astrophe", Dodger comes by and offers to help Oliver. At first, Oliver refuses until Dodger assures him that he won't try to make a meal out of him since he finds cats too furry to eat and after teaching him a few lessons and a few things he knows about Louie. Then, Dodger asks Oliver if he "feels that rhythm." After a construction worker with a jackhammer does his job, Oliver does "feel it" and accepts Dodger's help. He pretends to chase Oliver in order to create a diversion, allowing them to steal the sausages together. But then, Dodger reveals that he conned Oliver by running off with the entire string while singing "Why Should I Worry." After a long chase through the city, Oliver catches up to Dodger at his home. Dodger gives the sausages to his dog friends: Francis, Einstein, Tito, and Rita after hearing their complaints about food and Francis forgetting his turn to get the food today. Then, Dodger is asked by his pals about how he managed to get those sausages. He tells them the story with every event that occurred during the day and later, with a big exaggeration on Oliver as a "greedy, ugly, psychotic monster with razor sharp claws, dripping fangs, and burning eyes." Just as he's about to get to the "scary best" part of the story, Oliver, having arrived at the barge and listened to the whole thing, falls from the roof when one of the wooden planks, which he was standing on, unexpectedly breaks and crashes in front of the gang with a piece of cloth covering him, thus, spooking everyone, including Dodger. At first, they don't know what it is; Tito thinks it's an "alien" when a mysterious paw, coming out of the cloth, grabs and scratches him on the nose but then when the result is out, it turns out to be Oliver; referred as a cat by Rita after seeing the result clearly and telling everyone to calm down and what it is. Just as the gang (except Dodger) is surrounding Oliver and ask him questions about how and why he came to their place, Oliver reveals to them the truth about his involvement with Dodger's hot dog scheme, which later makes Dodger admit to his friends that Oliver did indeed assist him in stealing the sausages and he begins to develop respect for the kitten, as does the rest of the gang after that. Then, the gang starts mocking Dodger about his "monster" story while Dodger is watching, with his sunglasses on, the baseball game but, just as he tells them to "keep it down", he is interrupted and annoyed by Tito, who continues talking and mocking him while taking off his sunglasses and turning off the T.V. Dodger tells Tito to "cool it, man" but now, Tito insists on "seeing this big bad kitty fight in action", so, Dodger tricks him into making him look at something he supposedly saw. With Tito's head in another direction, Dodger jumps on him and a dogpile fight ensues, which somewhat frightens Oliver a bit and makes him hide in a "loot" box. Later, a voice is heard; revealed to be Fagin, the dogs' owner. Fagin comes in, tells his dogs to stop, and receives an unexpected warm welcome home from them despite Fagin's protests. The dogs also notice the dog biscuits Fagin bought them. However, when a honking noise is heard outside, Fagin knows it means his evil boss, Mr. Sykes, whom he owes money to, is here. Fagin is disappointed by the "loot" his dogs brought for him to pay back Sykes and he discovers Oliver but before he can examine him, Sykes' two Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto, come in and shoo him out to talk with their master while they taunt his dogs as Oliver hides from them. While Fagin is out talking to Sykes, Roscoe taunts Dodger and the gang while DeSoto sniffs around the place. After Roscoe tries hitting on Rita, threatens Francis after having been insulted by him, mocks Tito, and threatens Einstein after having been told by him, Dodger tries to calm Roscoe down with a question of either having lost his sense of humor or not, to which Roscoe replies with a "no," a kick on the TV, and a sinister chuckle. After DeSoto's attempt on eating Oliver, whose scent he caught and whom he unfortunately found in the end, fails with a scratch on the nose and before leaving the barge after hearing their master's call, the two Dobermans intend to harm Oliver until Dodger intervenes and protects him. Roscoe tells him to get out of his way but Dodger refuses and the rest of the gang come to their aid; making the two evil dogs hesitate when they realize they are outnumbered. As they leave when their master calls for them again, Roscoe swears retaliation on Dodger and the gang and tells them they are going to pay for what they have done; starting with Oliver. After the Dobermans leave, Dodger assures Oliver he can "really pick 'em" and pulls a high-five paw trick on him. Then, Fagin walks in all wet (after falling off the pier) and sad since he was given only three days by Sykes to pay him back or else who knows what might happen to him, his home, and his dogs. Later, after the dogs cheer him up, Fagin says he saw DeSoto's nose. Wondering who did it, he is impressed to know that it was a little kitten like Oliver after Dodger reveals him to his master. After Fagin accepts Oliver in the gang and reads them a bedtime story, to which he was reluctant at first and then, cooperative after hearing and seeing Einstein sad, Dodger turns off the lights, hops in on his bed, and goes to sleep. Oliver, who is only two seconds napping on Fagin's lap, looks at him, runs to his bed, and snuggles beside him. At first, Dodger can't understand but after watching Rita, who is only half asleep and who witnessed Oliver rushing over to him, and Oliver smile, he quickly understands that the kitten loves him then, falls asleep with a smile on his face; so does Rita. The next day, Fagin leaves Dodger responsible for Oliver, who along with the gang are riding in Fagin's scooter, and then, tells them to go out and search for food while he finds a way to earn or even steal money. But instead, Dodger and the gang decide to help their master with his financial problem; starting on Columbus Avenue, which Oliver agrees to do as well. Then, Oliver is given a lesson by the gang, mainly Rita while singing "Streets of Gold", about the rough, tough streets of New York and about "how the best survive by keeping their dreams alive." During and after the song, Dodger and the gang save Oliver again when a vicious alley dog chases him. Oliver even tries to "bark" like a dog to shoo the alley dog away and the gang finds it amusing a bit. After the song, Dodger notices a beige limo passing by. Where there's a limo, there's money and where there's money, there's an idea in Dodger's head. The plan is to steal the limo's radio, give it to Fagin so as to sell it, and earn some money in return as partial payment to Mr. Sykes but it backfires when Oliver accidentally slips on the ignition of the car; causing electrocution to Tito. When Dodger notices Oliver is still in the car driving away, he scolds at Tito for not watching over him as he was supposed to. So, he decides to follow the limo with Tito while the rest of the gang return to Fagin. Finally, they find their friend taken to a big mansion by a little girl and an old man. Tito tries to rescue him on his own, not before being stopped by Dodger. A few moments later, Dodger and Tito return to Fagin and the rest of the gang and inform them everything; thinking their friend is in trouble in a "torture place" when actually he has been adopted by a young girl named Jenny Foxworth, who found him in the car, and taken to her upscale house. When a decision is to be made about whether to help Fagin or Oliver, it results with Francis speaking Old English, which annoys Tito, resulting with Francis losing his temper while repeating his real name three times after having been called "Frankie" "again", which he dislikes. Luckily, Dodger intervenes and breaks up their argument, though Tito gets one last raspberry at Francis in before Dodger turns to glare at him, forcing Tito to quickly turn his head away and play innocent to avoid a reprimand from Dodger. Dodger suggests they "rescue" their friend first and then take care of Fagin, which the gang agrees to. Then, he forms a "rescue plan" with the gang. Dodger leads the "rescue mission" the next day while Oliver's new owner, Jenny is at school. The gang notice Winston, Jenny's family's butler and driver, banging on something with a rolling pin through a window, thinking he's "torturing" Oliver. After Francis distracts Winston again like he did the other day with the whole limo/radio incident, Dodger and the gang manage to sneak into the house unnoticed and leave Winston outside. Inside, the gang start admiring the place more than focusing on their friend. Luckily, Dodger helps them snap out of it right away. When Dodger meets Georgette, the Foxworth family's spoiled pedigree poodle, after entering her room all of a sudden, she panics; causing her mirror to break in the process. At first, Georgette thinks Dodger is after her but when he replies otherwise, Georgette feels insulted over his reply, thus, causing her to give him an uninteresting education about herself. After that, Dodger sarcastically relies that "we're all very impressed", which allows the rest of the gang to enter the room; including Tito, who suddenly becomes enamored by Georgette, who replies with disgust and insults. Georgette tries to call for Winston countless times, who managed to sneak back in the house through the window, but, when Dodger mentions that they only came here for their cat, she's cooperative; realizing they are the friends Oliver keeps talking about. However, before cooperating with the "rescue," Winston checks to see if Georgette is alright. Einstein and Francis hide under Georgette's bed cover with half of Georgette's body sticking out, Dodger and Rita pose as dog statue replicas, and Tito hangs on a coat hanger of the door. Despite finding it a bit weird, Winston leaves. When Georgette takes the gang to Jenny's room, they notice Oliver happily sleeping his pillow. Rita becomes the first one convinced he's okay and proposes they "forget the whole thing" but Georgette, eager to get rid of him, convinces them that "he's so traumatized" and when Winston's voice is heard again, she hands him to them in a pillow sack held by Einstein and Francis and allows them to flee through the fire escape. The dogs bring Oliver back to Fagin, but the cat becomes upset upon waking when he realizes he has been taken away from Jenny. This angers Dodger, who accuses Oliver of looking down on him and the other dogs as "the riffraff." However, Dodger is wrong because Oliver admits he really loves his friends but when it comes to having a new home, things get a bit complicated; especially when being taken away from it. Despite still being upset, Dodger allows Oliver to leave. Oliver leaves with great sadness and sorrow, not before a depressed Fagin returns and takes him back in. After noticing Oliver's gold collar and the address inscribed on it, Fagin suddenly comes up with an idea of ransoming him, which just might help him with his current problem since all his other previous attempts have failed. At night, at Sykes' warehouse, Fagin goes over his plan with Dodger pretending to be Sykes before entering his warehouse. Once inside, Fagin discusses his plan with Sykes but awkwardly at first due to his fear of the gangster, which causes Sykes to lose his patience and snap his fingers to order his Dobermans to attack him. Luckily, Dodger jumps into the scene and fights them off while Fagin discusses his plan properly and loudly this time and shows him Oliver as proof. Once he's convinced, he snaps his fingers again to order his Dobermans to cease the attack. Unfortunately, due to the attack, Dodger lays injured and unconscious on the floor with severe (but invisible) injuries as Fagin and Oliver come to his aid after Sykes notices the address inscribed on Oliver's collar and gives Fagin 12 hours left as his "last chance". On the same night, before the rendez-vous between Fagin and the unknown rich cat owner: Jenny, Rita seems worried about Dodger when she notices him limping a little as he joins up with the gang but, he assures her that "they never laid a paw on me." After Fagin and Jenny have a small conversation with Sykes and his dogs unknowingly watching them in his car from a distance, Jenny turns out to be Oliver's owner with only a piggy bank as payment to get him back and starts crying when she gets scared and doesn't know what to do. Fagin, at first, has a hard decision about whether to follow his good heart or not and feels guilty to see Jenny and Oliver sad. Finally, Fagin gives up the ransom, pretends to find Oliver in a box, and hands him to Jenny. Unfortunately, Sykes bursts into the scene, kidnaps Jenny, throws Oliver out of the window, and tells Fagin to keep his mouth shut and to consider their account closed. Then, Dodger and the gang come to Oliver's aid. Dodger assures Oliver that they'll "absitively" get Jenny back. Oliver and the dogs run to Sykes' warehouse without riding in Fagin's scooter this time. After an inspection of the warehouse has been made by Francis and Tito, it turns out everything appears to be locked up so now, Dodger comes up with a plan on how to get inside, unlock a hatch from the inside, and enter the warehouse. The plan is set with Francis as the first "cannonball," Oliver as the second "cannonball," and Tito as the "maestro." Dodger and the gang call for Francis to see if he's ready, which he appears to be. After having been sent the way up by Francis and the "seesaw" they were on, Oliver breaks through the window; alerting Sykes and his Dobermans, and once he lands safely inside while avoiding getting caught by the Dobermans searching the place, he is able to open the hatch from the inside and allow everyone in. Dodger reminds everyone to stay quiet, not before Georgette screams in pain because of a broken nail; alerting the Dobermans again. Nevertheless, Dodger and the gang are still able to proceed inside until a security camera turns to their direction. Dodger tells Tito to handle the problem, which is resolved when Tito bites off the wires while getting barbecued again. Oliver and the dogs observe what is going on in Sykes' office from the top, where they find that Jenny's okay but tied up and Sykes on the phone with Winston; demanding ransom. So, Dodger comes up with another plan to distract Sykes while they try to rescue Jenny. However, the Dobermans are alerted by their enemies' smell this time. The plan involves Tito, Francis, and Einstein disguised as a Pizza delivery guy as the diversion to lure Sykes away while the rest of the gang take care of Jenny. Despite the diversion working, they, unfortunately, run into Roscoe and DeSoto. All seems lost until Georgette succeeds in trapping the evil dogs inside a tarpaulin. Then, they come back to help the others. After locking the office door, Dodger instructs Francis to keep an eye on the monitors while they figure out another way of escaping since chewing the ropes off Jenny failed. Dodger checks the monitors again and asks Francis if the coast is clear, only to find Francis naively watching old girl dancing shows on one of them. Dodger quickly switches the monitors to what is going on outside, where he notices Sykes and his dogs returning to them. Luckily, Dodger notices a crane on top, therefore, another idea comes to his head again involving Tito with electronics despite having been electrocuted too many times. At first, Tito seems reluctant but, with a little love persuasion from Georgette, he's cooperative. Tito finally manages to get everyone out before Sykes and his dogs break through the locked door. They are able to escape with the crane until Sykes brings out an emergency ax and destroys the crane controls; causing everyone to fall and land on a slide. They slide until Dodger and everyone else , unfortunately, end up in front of their enemies cornering them. When all seems lost and before Sykes can snap his fingers to order his dogs to attack, they hear a honking noise and breaking in through the window, it turns out to be Fagin with his scooter. Dodger and everyone else climb aboard and Fagin gets them out of here. Things turn out okay when outrunning the two evil dogs chasing them on foot until Sykes catches up with them in his car. Having no other alternative, Fagin drives his friends into a subway station. Nevertheless, Sykes; driving like a madman, is able to drive into the station as well. Going through a tunnel, Sykes is still in pursuit. Dodger and the gang begin barking and growling at their enemies. When Sykes' car collides with Fagin's scooter, Jenny falls and ends up on Sykes' hood. When Sykes tries to grab her, Oliver jumps to his car and bites his hand to save Jenny but, still biting his hand, Sykes throws Oliver in the backseat where Roscoe and DeSoto are. Then, Dodger comes to Oliver's rescue, fighting off Roscoe by pushing him out, while breaking through the back window, and letting him slip, while holding on to Dodger's scarf for a few moments, fall on the electric railway caused by the friction between Sykes' ruined car tires and the railway, and die in the process. Just as DeSoto is about to kill Dodger for revenge, Oliver jumps on DeSoto and scratches him again on the nose, causing DeSoto to yelp in pain, jump, and fall to his death as well. When DeSoto jumped before dying, Oliver almost falls to the same fate, not before Dodger saves him again. On the Brooklyn Bridge, when Jenny calls for Fagin's help, Fagin comes to help her while Tito takes command of his scooter. Sykes manages to grab Jenny's leg and pull her back in until Oliver and Dodger jump on him and fight him off; allowing Jenny to jump to Fagin on his scooter. In front of them, a train is coming towards their direction. Luckily, Tito manages to climb everyone up to safety on one of the cables of the bridge while Sykes' car still stays on the railway. Dodger and Oliver, still fighting Sykes off, are thrown out of his car but luckily, the train runs Sykes and his car over, thus, killing him and sending him and his car to the bottom of the Hudson River. When everyone comes back down from the cable, Jenny runs to search for Oliver, only to find Dodger, with great sadness, approaching and holding him, thinking he's dead. But when a small meow comes out of Oliver, everyone including Dodger is glad to know this means he's still alive, except Georgette, who is still in great shock from the chase. Then, Dodger and the rest of the gang are accepted as Jenny's new best friends. The next day, at Jenny's home, Dodger, the gang, and Fagin are celebrating Jenny's 8th birthday and giving her birthday gifts. When it's time to go, the gang (except Tito) say their good-byes to Oliver and vice versa. Before leaving, Dodger asks Oliver if he just wants "to hang out or anything." Before finishing, Tito runs away from Georgette after having been given a bath and dressed into something classy by her; much to dodger's amusement, and Tito says his good-bye to Oliver. After that, Dodger asks Oliver if he can "handle the champ." Oliver replies, "Sure," and pulls the same high-five paw trick on him as Dodger did before. Dodger says he's "okay... for a cat" and that he and the gang will "keep a spot open for him in the gang... vice president, uptown chapter" and then says his good-bye to Oliver. And then, Dodger sings "Why Should I Worry" reprise, only this time with the gang singing along with himas Jenny, Winston, and Oliver say their good-byes to them and watch them go. Then, Dodger and the gang join Fagin in his scooter while still singing on their way back home. House of Mouse Dodger has made a few guest appearances in ''House of Mouse. He can be seen along with some of the dog-gang members and Oliver in the intro. His most notable appearance is in the episode "Pluto Saves the Day", where he turns out to be the lead singer of the Pet Shop Dogs band singing "Everybody Wants to Be a Woof": composed of Jock, Napoleon, Lafayette, Tito, Francis, DeSoto, and some Dalmatian puppies. Later, he and the band fight off Pete (who's disguised as Snow White) and then chase him out along with Pluto for attempting to sabotage and shut down the club again. He also made a brief appearance with Oliver in "Max's Embarrassing Date" as Goofy gets knocked over, causing a mess at everyone's tables. Disney Parks In the years following the movie's release, Dodger made numerous appearances at the parks. In the late 1990s, he was retired but appeared with Oliver at the grand opening of Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005. Gallery For more images, click here. Trivia *Dodger was based on Jack Dawkins alias "The Artful Dodger" from the novel, Oliver Twist. *After stealing Old Louie's sausages, Dodger hums a few bars of "Why Should I Worry" before revealing that he conned Oliver and singing the song. *Dodger loses his red bandana when he steals the sausages but regains it after giving the sausages to his friends later on at night. *After snagging the hot dogs, Dodger and Oliver walk through the cement. The string of hot dogs is clearly dragging through the cement. When they show Dodger from a distance, only paw prints are present and there is no sign of the hot dogs being dragged. *When Dodger pulls the hot dogs underneath the table in "Why Should I Worry", his lips don't move to match the lyrics and there is no muffling to represent the hot dogs in his mouth. *It is unknown how Dodger got his bandanna back after he let it go to let Roscoe get electrocuted on the railway when Roscoe was holding on to it. But it could be that he got a new one from Fagin or Fagin was able to recover it while taking Jenny back home on the same night. *When Dodger jumped on top of the Taxi at the end, the "red" brake lights flash white. White indicates that a car is going in reverse; when the Taxi is clearly going forward. *Steve Martin and Burt Reynolds were both considered for the role of Dodger. Coincidentally, Reynolds later went on to voice Charlie B. Barkin in Don Bluth's 1989 film, All Dogs Go to Heaven starring Dom DeLuise, who voiced Fagin in Oliver & Company, as Itchy Itchiford. Category:Characters Category:Disney characters Category:Oliver & Company characters Category:Dogs Category:Males Category:Adults